Left Behind
by ashehole
Summary: Sakura flirts like it's a game of shogi, but he's a well-guarded King. 50 Sentences, Theme Set Epsilon, set post-Fourth Shinobi War. KakaSaku.


**1. Motion**  
Sakura spins on her heel, jaw clenched, fist tight, her hair fluttering around her face as she picks up speed; Kakashi takes in every fluid movement she makes even as she hits him square in the jaw.

**2. Cool**  
It's only when Kakashi strips to reveal his bare torso in order to cool down that Sakura realizes that she's overheating.

**3. Young**  
"You need to seize your youth, my friend," Gai points out gently when he catches the way his friend's gaze stays on the kunoichi's retreating form just a second too long.

**4. Last**  
She's always the last one to leave, and for a girl who has told herself that she was going to stop following, she sure doesn't mind when it's Kakashi in the lead.

**5. Wrong**  
It's not wrong because she's his student as much as it is a million other small excuses he can come up with every time she flicks a smile his way.

**6. Gentle**  
He's just watched her split a mountain open, but when her fingers graze over his cheek to assess for damage, it's with a gentleness he's always associated with her.

**7. One**  
"You know," Sakura says late one night, "I always thought Sasuke would be the one, but I don't think there's such a thing as just one One."

**8. Thousand**  
Kakashi asks her if she's competing with Ino to hit a thousand of these Ones, but she just gives him a knowing smile and says, "Three is all I need."

**9. King**  
Sakura flirts like it's a game of shogi, but he's a well-guarded King.

**10. Learn**  
It takes time to earn her win.

**11. Blur**  
She isn't as fast as he is, isn't as fast as Sasuke or Naruto, but even Kakashi doesn't see it coming when her arms wrap around his waist, her forehead pressed to his back, pleading with him to not leave her behind.

**12. Wait**  
He stills, arms hanging by his side as hers tighten and stares straight ahead, trying to ignore the way she feels against him before he says, "I'll wait for you."

**13. Change**  
Kakashi notices each change in her: the way her hair begins to brush past her shoulders, the chakra that gathers in her fists, the determination that blooms in her eyes, the way her hips curve into her waist now…

**14. Command**  
"Kiss me," Sakura commands him, but he sighs behind his mask and tells her that he's still the one who gives orders here.

**15. Hold**  
When they're alone, Sakura reaches for his hand and holds it; he doesn't exactly hold it back, but he doesn't pull away either, and that's a victory right there.

**16. Need**  
Sakura is patient enough to realize that what Kakashi needs the most is time - time to let himself heal, time to let himself pull down his walls - but she's not patient enough to let him do it all by himself.

**17. Vision**  
"Don't worry about losing the Sharingan," Sakura tells him before they start out on a new mission, "because I'll make up for it."

**18. Attention**  
She's not as good as the Sharingan (because she can't copy an opponent's moves), but her attention to detail is as good as his own and she more than makes up for it.

**19. Soul**  
He wonders when it is that she was able to start seeing right through him when he's spent his whole life putting up a front.

**20. Picture**  
She's in his apartment, leaning down to look at the pictures on his desk - the one with Team Minato, the one with Team 7, the one with just him and her after Sasuke and Naruto had left them - and she smiles, brushing her fingers of it.

**21. Fool**  
"You're a fool for trying," Kakashi tells her during training, and it hurts more than he wants to admit when he sees the way her face falls.

**22. Mad**  
Sakura refuses to train with him; one day turns to two, two days turns to a week, until his body aches to fight with her again.

**23. Child**  
He's old enough to admit that they're both acting like children, and old enough to realize only one of them really has any right to.

**24. Now**  
They meet in the middle of the road, and he'd be lying if he said it was coincidence, but now he has no idea what to say to her.

**25. Shadow**  
His shadow looms over, and Sakura glances up at him; his shadows loom over him, too.

**26. Goodbye**  
"I don't want you to leave me behind either," he finally admits to her, the words as painful to get out as having his eye slashed.

**27. Hide**  
Sakura's never been good at hiding behind a mask like he is, and she's always been more forgiving than she should be.

**28. Fortune**  
They are friends, partners, and there's something about having each other still that puts them both at ease; in their world, fortunate situations are few and far between.

**29. Safe**  
Sakura has spent her entire life being rescued by Team 7, but when she sees her opening, she rushes in, her arm wrapped around Kakashi's waist as she pulls him out of the way of the blast.

**30. Ghost**  
"You have to let go of the past," Sakura says, and he looks away from her.

**31. Book**  
It's the first time she's ever seen him looked embarrassed, when she looks over his shoulder to read the words of Icha Icha Tactics with him.

**32. Eye**  
Sometimes she catches him about to pull his hitae-ate down over his left eye again before dropping his hand - nobody else sees the split second hesitation.

**33. Never**  
In what feels like another life, Kakashi would have never broken the rules - and here he is now, his body pinning Sakura's down, and the way they both breathe heavily has nothing to do with their sparring.

**34. Sing**  
Ino leans forward, a wicked smile on her face as she corners her best friend, and in a little sing-song voice says, "Spill everything that's going on between you and Kakashi-sensei."

**35. Sudden**  
The way his lips curve over hers even through his mask is too surprising for her brain to register at first - and it's more than a little embarrassing to tell Ino that.

**36. Stop**  
Her fingers don't stop until she's peeled it back from his face, her mouth crushing against his in a kiss that's too desperate to be romantic and too demanding to be anywhere close to gentle.

**37. Time**  
It's been four days, seven hours, and ten minutes since he left her on the ground like that, mouth swollen and body needing his against hers still; even thinking about it now makes her want to slam her fist into his face.

**38. Wash**  
In that time, Kakashi has taken two cold showers a day, but it doesn't seem to erase the way his body felt between her legs.

**39. Torn**  
She wants him to come to her because he wants her, but she's so sick of waiting for the men in her life to make decisions for her.

**40. History**  
It's their past together that makes them what they are, Kakashi realizes, when he walks into his living to find her standing there already.

**41. Power**  
They both struggle to not be the first to break in this game of cat and mouse, but even Kakashi knows that he's been the mouse the entire time.

**42. Bother**  
"Why me?" he asks her suddenly.

**43. God**  
"Because it seems like only mortals get left behind together," she answers honestly, and there's a world of pain in her green eyes that reflects back at him.

**44. Wall**  
He walks her back into the wall, gripping her by the thighs and pulling her legs around his waist as he breathes her in.

**45. Naked**  
She traces every inch of his bare skin with the same dedication that she has put into her training, but it's him that still proves why he's the one in charge.

**46. Drive**  
"You're going to drive me insane," he mutters as he curls around her back, lips lazily caressing her shoulder.

**47. Harm**  
Kakashi realizes he's gone too far only when she takes a kunai to the arm; she's barely hurt, but he still takes out the enemy faster than he has since he's lost the Sharingan.

**48. Precious**  
Sakura watches him with amusement, because even though love has never been uttered between them, it's his actions that reveal his true feelings: she's his precious person.

**49. Hunger**  
Her fingers dig into his vest, tugging him in close and kissing him like he's the only person in the world; he's hers, too, after all.

**50. Believe**  
Naruto and Sasuke can't believe that it's Sakura who wins the bet about who will be able to unmask Kakashi first, and her smug sense of superiority makes him sigh as Team 7 goes out to eat - on his bill, of course.


End file.
